‘Fast 8’: Helen Mirren to Co-Star in Latest ‘Fast and the Furious’ Sequel, Because of Course She Is

The Oscar winner is doing it "for the fun of it."

It would appear that “Game of Thrones'” status as the franchise best known for casting exalted English actors in bit roles could soon be in question. Today in improbable (yet somehow inevitable) news, Dame Helen Mirren revealed in an Elle interview that she’ll appear in “Fast 8” alongside the likes of Vin Diesel and The Rock “for the fun of it.”

“So maybe that’s what I want as well,” the Oscar winner continued, “some fun and some relevant, serious, important movies.” Mirren is on the record as being both an automotive enthusiast and a fan of the long-running action series, which means she’s as excited for this as anyone who saw her in “The Queen” and couldn’t help wondering how she’d look behind the wheel of a sweet ride: “I’ve always rather loved driving. I said, ‘I’ll be in it, but only if I’m allowed to drive if I do drive in it.’ But we’ll see. We’ll see how it transpires.”

“Fast 8” will be the first installment in the series since 2006’s “Tokyo Drift” not to star Paul Walker, who died in 2014. F. Gary Gray (“Straight Outta Compton”) is directing the film, which is set to hit theaters on April 14, 2017.